MLS Cup Preview: LA Galaxy eye record sixth title, Red Bulls aim for first

This time last year, the LA Galaxy was sifting through the rubble of yet another lost season. The record five-time MLS Cup champions, a club that became globally known for fielding superstars like David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimović, finished 26th among the 29 MLS teams.

Another title couldn’t have seemed further away.

And yet here the Galaxy are, preparing to host another original MLS franchise — the New York Red Bulls — in Saturday’s MLS Cup final (coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX and FOX Deportes, with kickoff at 4:10 p.m. ET on those networks and on Apple TV).

“I’m thrilled for the group and the club and the fan base, and everybody who has, over the years, set the standard for this organization, that this is the expectation: to be in games like this, to win trophies,” said Galaxy coach Greg Vanney, who in 2021 returned the club that drafted him out of UCLA following a silverware-laden seven season run with Toronto FC.

Getting back to the top took time; the Galaxy also missed the playoffs in 2021. This unprecedented run of futility — the club’s last MLS title came a decade ago — coincided with the rise of nouveau riche LAFC across town. LAFC reached the last two MLS Cups, claiming their first (and a second Supporters’ Shield) two years ago.

From the start of 2024, though, this Galaxy team looked different.

“The burden that comes with the legacy of a team like this, to be able to own that and come out and compete — this group has attacked it from Day 1 this season,” Vanney said.

The Galaxy have been led all year by Spanish playmaker Riqui Puig, the 25-year-old former Barcelona prodigy who was named to MLS’s 2024 Best XI earlier this week. Puig, however, will miss Saturday’s title game after tearing his ACL during last week’s Western Conference final win over the Seattle Sounders. He somehow stayed in that game and set up striker Dejan Joveljić’s 85th-minute winner.

“We’re definitely going to miss Riqui,” said Galaxy midfielder Mark Delgado. “Our heart is with him, and it definitely gives us just another reason to go out there and give it our all.”

The home side has plenty of other weapons beyond Puig. First year wingers Joseph Paintsil and Gabriel Pec have been revelations, performing even better than advertised after arriving at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California last winter. German national team veteran Marco Reus was recruited in July; he arrived after playing in Borussia Dortmund’s UEFA Champions League final loss to Real Madrid. Reus could be asked to take on more attacking duties with Puig out, though the 35-year-old is nursing a groin injury. 

“The question is, how prepared can we get him for the game this week?,” Vanney said of Reus.  “We’ll see day to day how he recovers.”

The Galaxy is the clear favorite nonetheless. That comes with pressure. Meantime, the visitors are playing with house money. The seventh seed in the East, nobody expected the Red Bulls to be in Saturday’s contest. Despite winning just one of its last nine regular season games, New York stunned the defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew in the first round, then beat local rival New York City FC and Orlando City in single-elimination road games.

“Maybe for a lot of people outside this club, it’s the biggest surprise,” said Red Bulls coach Sandro Schwarz. “We are now able to play a final on Saturday.”

And there’s no reason they can’t win it. MLS is still a league built on parity. Schwarz boasts a match-winning midfielder in Sweden’s Emil Forsberg, and they have no reason to fear the hostile reception that awaits them in Southern California after their success away from Red Bull Arena this postseason.

“We’ve been away basically every single round,” striker Lewis Morgan said. Of course, we had the best of three series where we had one home playoff game. “I don’t think it really matters where the game is.”

That’s not to say there isn’t pressure on the guests, too. The Red Bulls have never won an MLS Cup. Despite a record 15 consecutive playoff appearances, this is just their first  appearance in the domestic league’s marquee game over that span and second ever; they lost to the Crew at this same stadium way back in 2008. 

Around 1,000 Red Bulls fans, many who have supported the Harrison, New Jersey-based club since they were known as the MetroStars during MLS’s early years, are expected to make the trek to the opposite coast in the hopes of witnessing history.

The players, by contract, must effort to block out that noise. “Our main focus has to be now on our daily training sessions, on our video sessions,” Schwarz said, “And not to think too much about what can happen after the game, or about the history of this title.”

Still, this is MLS Cup. It’s New York versus Los Angeles. Both of these teams and their fan bases know excaly how big Saturday’s game is. They both fully understand how much is at stake. 

“I’m excited for the group, for this opportunity,” Vanney said.  “And now the objective here is to win it.”

Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports. A staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.

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